What constitutes consciousness

What constitutes consciousness

news.bbc.co.uk

Queen ants dozily dream, while worker ants are forced to get by taking power naps, the first study of the sleeping habits of ants has revealed.
Intriguingly, Cassill's team gathered evidence suggesting that the queen ants dream when sleeping deeply. Frequently, the queens would quiver their folded antennae when sleeping deeply.

This "rapid antennal movement (RAM) might be an analog to the rapid eye movement in vertebrates," the researchers write in the Journal of Insect Behavior.

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Now I realise that most more complex life forms are able to dream, but insects? Does this mean that all mutilcellular life forms can dream and reason? If so, how does this impact on our view of life and the soul? Although I am not a religious person, I do believe that death is not the end. Does the above article suggest that this could be the case for all forms of life or does it imply that dreaming and reasoning is just an automatic function and we are doomed to nothingness after we die?
I would welcome your personal thoughts on this subject.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

They say life like forests and grass have "collective souls". Maybe the same is true for insects. Maybe even plants dream in their own way.

Any life form that is in a situation where "fight or flight" kicks in is pretty conscious. That very decision requires quick logic and isn't just an instant response, it must be thought out. Anything that retreats when you swat at it can reason.

The absence of a mammal brain is what makes this interesting. Since its not a function of more advanced intelligence, everything may indeed have life specific dreams. Ants dream about digging etc.

The implication is that all life is tied together by something they all have in common. I'd suggest its the electrical exchange of information at one level or another. This exchange can also impact ones environment. The afterlife could be your electric information becoming part of something else that is alive. There's a lot of possibilities. It's also best not to rule out that a grand consciousness of some sort could manifest in this exchange.

Wow I'm gonna feel bad whenever I kill a bug now.